Still Standing
by Brainiac5
Summary: As usual, Hikaru is getting on our lovable techie's last nerve. However, if Ryo's going to spar with the blue-haired annoyance, it's going to be on his terms... yet another backhanded exo-force fic. oneshot.


A/N: Yo! Another oneshot backhanded boycott! I have a few in-progress, but I can't seem to think of exactly how to begin them... beginnings are so confusing. Either beginings or endings. The middle's the easy part, most of the time. Oh yeah, and I checked my dialogue to make sure there weren't any capitals, Asterisk. If you find any, pretend you don't see them!

* * *

**...Still Standing...**

"Hey Ryo!" Hikaru yelled, waving his arms to attract my attention. As if I couldn't hear him throwing open the door, smashing it into who-knows-what, and then screeching in a place with an ominous echo.

"Yeah?" I called back, glancing up from my computer where I was studying some schematics. "Can I help you?"

"Takeshi won't practice hand-to-hand combat with me," Hikaru complained, jogging across my lab, dodging the piles of tools and equipment carefully organized. Hey, just because they're in the middle of the floor doesn't mean they aren't organized.

"Takeshi won't practice hand-to-hand combat with you, eh? Can you blame him?" I muttered to myself before answering, "What does that have to do with me?"

"Will you practice with me?"

"That would be a comprehensive negative," I replied. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Does that mean yes?" Hikaru demanded irritably.

"No," I replied, making a notation of the specs I was examining.

"Oh, then it was a maybe?"

"It was an all-encompassing no," I informed him coldly. "I'm in the middle of a big project and the specs are turning out wrong-- I have to figure out the problem before it drives me batty."

"Work off some stress," Hikaru suggested. "Come spar with me."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think so."

"Please?!" Hikaru insisted, stepping forward and knocking over a pile of expensive and extremely fragile equipment.

"Ack! Watch where you step!" I cried, jumping up and bumping the table, which promptly fell over, causing the books and computer to fall to the floor with a smashing clatter. Expensive equipment stared woefully at me from several places-- most of them in far more pieces than they should have been. I turned back to Hikaru. My heart pounded like a war drum as I clenched my fists and glared at him with unbridled fury.

"On second thought," Hikaru said, slowly backing away, "I think I'll come back later."

"No," I snapped, striding past him. "Let's go spar. _Now._"

Oh yes… I was hungry for blood… _clumsy idiot pilot _blood.

* * *

"You do realize we aren't actually really supposed to hurt each other. It's just to keep us in good shape," Hikaru reminded me nervously as we walked to the training rooms.

"I'm aware of the fact," I said shortly.

"Right. Um, I'm not sure I really--"

"You will be sparring," I snapped, grabbing his collar and dragging him down the hall. "You interrupted my work, messed up my project and destroyed my concentration at a critical moment-- you are doing what you came to do, and there's no getting around it. Period. End of discussion, do I make myself clear?!" I snapped, spinning him around. "We are sparring."

Hikaru nodded nervously. "Got it," he whispered.

"Great," I snapped, leaving no doubt as to how I really felt.

"Can't we do something like three-dimensional chess instead?" Hikaru asked a moment later.

I turned to bore holes in him with my eyes. "What part of--"

"Okay, fine!" Hikaru cried. "No need to get violent!"

"Of course not," I said, voice dripping with false sweetness. "That's later, when we get to the training room."

Hikaru gulped nervously.

* * *

"You idiot!" I shouted, digging three fingers into a nerve cluster at the base of Hikaru's neck. "I've told you, time and time again to be careful in my labs. Must you always be such a spaz?!"

Hikaru broke free, clutching his neck. "Ack-- yeah, I know!" he snapped, throwing a punch with his right hand, clutching his neck with his left.

I stepped sideways, digging my elbow into his solar plexus with a grunt. He grunted louder, staggering back, now unsure as to continue holding his neck or relocate his hand to the abdominal area. "Those electronic devices cost a mint-- they can't really be produced right now, what with the robots!"

"I said I was sorry!" Hikaru moaned, taking a breath and then aiming a devastating kick at my jaw.

I blocked with a simple inside forearm technique and plowed my knuckles into his filtrim, the small nerve cluster between the top lip and the nose.

He cried out, grabbing his face and dropping to his knees. "Ow! Ryo, that hurt!"

"I know," I snapped. "If you knew anything about the nervous system, you would have realized which points I would be targeting and might have defended accordingly. Instead," Here I broke off and whacked him lightly on the head, "You lost. See Hikaru, this is exactly what I keep trying to show you. If you would simply make the effort to analyze everyday activities instead of just battles, life would be so much simpler."

"You didn't have to be so mean in teaching me something," Hikaru muttered, glaring at me. "And where do you get off anyway, teaching me things?!"

"Hey, someone's got to give a moral somewhere, and I'm the better candidate." I said.

"What makes you think that?!" Hikaru demanded, jumping up.

I jammed my knee into his groin and watched him go down with smug satisfaction. "Because I'm the one still standing," I replied, turning and opening the door. "Better luck next time, Hikaru." I chuckled. "And now you know why no one ever asks me to spar with them." I sighed, shaking my head sympathetically. "Ah well," I murmured. "I suppose some people are just destined to learn things the hard way."

Hikaru glared at me, then shook his head. "Guilty as charged," he muttered. Then he glanced up. "Hey, Ryo, you need some help getting that computer back in your lab set up?"

I smiled. "Sure. I wouldn't mind the company."


End file.
